Somerset

Formed May 14, 1688 (7^th county)

Somerset County (345,356), Somerville (12,348), North Plainfield (22,805)

The Modern 1986 steel and glass facility replaced a 1909 courthouse.  The courthouse is on Bridge Street at Main Street.  New Jersey State Highway 28 is Main Street in the town.  Basco Associates designed the new courthouse.  A 1799 courthouse was also in Somerville.  The county was organized on May 14, 1688 from Middlesex County as the 7^th county.  Perth Amboy (1688), Six Mile Run (1714), Millstone (1773), and Somerville (1782) have all served as county seat.  Somerset County is named for Somerset, England.  The county seat is named for the county.  Somerset County was the birthplace for 3 New Jersey Governors, Peter D. Vroom, Samuel L. Southard, and Philemon Dickerson. 

Somerset County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Freeholders.  Seventeen Superior Court Judges serve Somerset, Hunterdon, and Warren counties.  The county is in central New Jersey.  Newark, New Jersey is northeast and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is southwest of the county.  The county center is 4.3 miles South-Southwest of Somerville nearer Manville.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Morris, Union, Middlesex, Mercer, and Hunterdon counties.  

The area of the county is 305 square miles.  It is 13 out of 21 in the state.  It ranks 13 out of 21 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1132.3 persons per square mile making it 10 out of 21 in the state.  Somerset County has 26.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 78 crosses the county east to west from Union County to Hunterdon County.  United States Highway 22 parallels Interstate Highway 78 from Union to Hunterdon counties.  United States Highway 202 travels north to south from Morris County to Hunterdon County.  United States Highway 206 goes north to south from Morris County to Mercer County.  Grover Cleveland, the 22^nd and 24^th President, is buried in this county.  The county looks like the head of a duck.  Somerville is located near the center of the county.  North Plainfield is in the eastern extension part of the county.  Somerville is the county seat and North Plainfield is the largest city.  Somerville is 3.6% of the county population while North Plainfield is 6.6% of the county population.  This county is in the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island Metropolitan Statistical Area.